Is college basketball coaching behavior in decline?

Mar. 7, 2014
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Syracuse Orange head coach Jim Boeheim argues with officials moments before being ejected near the end of their game against the Duke Blue Devils at Cameron Indoor Stadium. / Mark Dolejs, USA TODAY Sports

by Nicole Auerbach, USA TODAY Sports

by Nicole Auerbach, USA TODAY Sports

The heated exchanges have played on a loop on television, Twitter or YouTube these last couple of weeks.

Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim frantically trying to shed his jacket (to no avail) while screaming obscenities at an official. A somewhat disheveled Kentucky coach John Calipari striding toward the middle of the court, yapping at an official. Referee Ted Valentine lunging at Cincinnati's Mick Cronin as they shouted at each other, faces mere inches apart.â??

The first two instances resulted in technical fouls and ejections; the last did not. Add in Fran McCaffery's ejection from earlier this season, and even Boeheim's post-game press conference in which he ripped the block/charge call that sparked his outburst (he was not fined or penalized by the ACC), and all of the sudden it seemed like a trend.

Anecdotally, it appeared that coaches had gotten out of control this season. "Bad coaching behavior" was the way it was put, set in contrast to what college basketball coaches are supposed to be: as molders of young men on and off the court.

Statistically, that's not the case.

John Adams, the NCAA's national coordinator for basketball officiating, provided USA TODAY Sports with the following numbers:

â?? From November 2012 through January 2013, 468 technical fouls were called in Division I men's basketball games, 92 on head coaches for unsportsmanlike behavior

â?? From November 2013 through January 2014, 315 technical fouls were called, 85 on head coaches for unsportsmanlike behavior.

He cautions that the numbers are self-reported and box scores don't include reasoning behind technical fouls. "They are estimates," Adams said. February numbers will be expected later this month, and they aren't expected to be drastically different from the season's pace.

"Given the number of games we play - we play about 5,500 Division I basketball games - there aren't that many technical fouls," Adams said. "When you consider all the minutes involved, and all the emotion, and all the players and all the coaches - I'm not minimizing issues that we have with sportsmanship from time to time - but I think it's remarkable that there are so few."

When Adams reviews incidents involving coach technicals/ejections, it's rather simple. The rulebook is explicit when it comes to rules regarding bench decorum and the coaches' box. It even mentions as an example of egregious conduct violations: "A negative response to a call/no-call including, but not limited to ... emphatically removing one's coat in response to a call" as well as examples involving profanity directed at an official or member of the opposing team. Boeheim's ejection was "literally laid out for (the official)," Adams said.

"Any officiating manager watching that play out, the only thing you're looking for is how did the official react? Did he handle it with poise? And did it meet the rulebook? In that situation, it did," Adams said. "It was very out of character for Coach Boeheim."

IT'S THAT TIME OF YEAR

Adams, like many involved in the college game, understand why these types of confrontation get the attention they do. College basketball is the nation's dominant sport from mid-February through March, meaning it gets more media attention and TV time. That part of the season also coincides with conference races heating up and bubble teams competing for NCAA tournament bids.

"You're taking an emotional game, and the people who are in the game, you're asking them to be unemotional," Florida coach Billy Donovan said.

Many coaches feel, too, that there can be inconsistency between officiating from one game to the next because various referees work for and are reviewed by individual conferences and not one national body (which is how the NBA works). That can prompt outrage over fouls or no-calls, which can sometimes trigger an ejection. And sometimes there's a purpose behind some of these ejections, like a coach trying to energize his players.

In short, there are many factors involved in the creation of a perfect storm - a heated coach-official incident that goes viral.

"There's probably no more intense time of the season than right now," said Jim Haney, the executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC). "We're talking about a time period where there's a lot of pressure. Competitive juices are always higher. It's a tougher time. Teams have been playing for three and a half months. They're tired. Coaches are tired. Officials are tired.

"It's one of those times of the year where emotions run high, games are going to be very competitive and have great value. Is this different from last year or 10 years or 20 years ago? Probably not. We just live in an age where there's a lot more television, things just get viewed."

Viewed - and talked about incessantly, which can bother some coaches.

"Different things happen in games, and what happens sometimes is that stuff gets blown way out proportion, in my opinion," Donovan said. "Sometimes, in these big games you're going to have some volatile situations that maybe take the focus off the game. ... I think coaches understand where that line is. Sometimes, for whatever reason, coaches do cross that line. They may do that. Inevitably, there gets to be a lot of exposure.

"I don't think you can take a couple of instances and say, 'Wow, coaches are out of control on the sidelines.' There are thousands of games, and you're taking maybe four or five things that have happened and labeling the rest of the country in terms of the coach-official relationship."

Adams said it's important - and challenging - for officiating managers and the NCAA's rules committee to create a framework for the game that allows coaches the ability to vent their displeasure with calls and no-calls during a game, as long as they do it with civility. He points at the November-January stats as evidence that, most of the time, these coach-official interactions are indeed civil.

"It'd be an overreaction to say myself or anyone in my position in any of the different conferences would be terribly worried about it," Adams said. "It's another play in the game. ... I'm not the least bit worried about it. I think coaches by and large know that they've earned a technical foul. It's a rare technical foul for unsporting behavior where the coach is puzzled as to what he's done. But again, we're only dealing with 80-something through three months. That's really not a lot."

LOOKING OUTSIDE THE BOX

One area Adams is concerned about, however, is enforcing rules regarding the coaching box. According to the rulebook:

"Failure to comply with the rule results in a distinct advantage that is not within the spirit and intent of the rules. The rule is clear and concise. The head coach or any other bench personnel may not be outside the prescribed coaching box except when otherwise permitted by rule. After a warning, for the first violation, a technical foul should be assessed for any subsequent infraction."

In recent weeks, television cameras have captured Maryland's Mark Turgeon and Michigan State's Tom Izzo way outside of the coaching box on the court, pleading with their players to play defense better or foul an opposing player.

"We're going to need not only the referees to do a better job with that, but I would hope that over time, the NABC supports an effort to keep coaches off the floor," Adams said. "My real fear is that someday a player and/or an official is going to trip over a coach who's clearly and completely out on the floor. Then you have a problem you can't fix with a technical foul. You may have an injury.

"That, and the fact that if one guy is out there doing it and the other guy is playing by the rules, the fellow that's not playing by the rules has created an advantage for himself."

The task of monitoring coaches' location on the court is a difficult one. Often, coaches step on to the court to talk to their players when they're on the opposite end of the court - so officials may not necessarily see them. Referees are so focused on the ball and the play at hand in general, it's hard to check on coaches and enforce this consistently. Some will warn coaches, but by rule that second infraction should result in an technical foul - and that's not usually the case. As Adams put it, "we as an officiating community have been very reluctant to enforce that rule." (A coach is ejected when he receives his second technical foul.)

"There's been this emphasis on bench decorum, coaching box, all that stuff, and I get it," Donovan said. "But sometimes a coach is outside the box and they're not even aware of it. I've been told numerous times, 'Billy, get back in the box.' I look down, I'm like, 'Oh my God, I'm sorry.' I'm by half-court. I'm not yelling at the official; maybe I'm yelling at my players. But I'm taking the official and putting him in a position where he can't focus on doing his job. He's now dealing with me."

Adams said he has written about enforcing the coaching box rule better in numerous memos he's sent out to officials this season. It's a much larger concern for Adams than high-profile coaches receiving ejections.

"Is it at the top of our list? No," Adams said. "But it is important. It'll be one of the points of emphasis that we'll say when we talk to the 100 officials who work the NCAA tournament. We want coaches in the coaching box coaching their teams.

"I think we're right where we ought to be with unsporting technical fouls on coaches and/or players."

Nicole Auerbach, a national college basketball reporter for USA TODAY Sports, is on Twitter @NicoleAuerbach.